From September 2016 to April 2017 I attended Langara Reconciliation Carving Cohort. This was my online journey- a collection of research, thoughts, feelings, work and anything that would aid me and others to help the next 7 generations.
Showing posts with label Aaron Moody Nelson. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Aaron Moody Nelson. Show all posts
With Aaron Nelson Moody's help I have made some GREAT tools and I am GRATEFUL!!
Thank you Aaron.
The truth is I thought I was going to get some funding to help with tools, but there was none...and GOOD THING Aaron taught us how to MAKE OUR OWN because I am truly AMAZED with what I have learned and what I have actually been able to create with them.
That said, Aaron is great at sharpening...me...not so good and sharpening is a big part so that is something I still must conquer.
Anyways, I wanted to share with you a few photos and videos.
Almost finished the first semester. Just one more class.
Here are some of my carving designs and carvings I have done so far.
I am going through a lot of emotions right now. I am so tired, I have been dealing with a lot of personal issues related to the education system and feel like I am at a crossroads if I want to do the 2nd semester.
Many many thanks to Aaron Nelson Moody for his patience, humour, knowledge and wisdom. Very grateful to meet you and have you as a mentor. I have learned so much. I really love the people in my class but it hasn't been an easy journey and part of it had to do with Reconciliation but partly because of the education system and what is required and that it was the first course of it's kind.
It has morphed and is morphing, from what was presented in the orientation, through the classes and to what it is now and what it could become. We were told to focus on transformation in the first classes...well this class is definitely transforming, itself and the world and everything related to it.
My little caterpillar was a sign, she hasn't become a butterfly yet, I am still waiting. Right now I feel like the that poor little thing, it the great big world that can not move fast, that only eats and inches along. When will I get my wings...I don't know...I am waiting. ..
We will just have to wait and see...until then...check out my progress.
One time when my daughter and I were going to one of her ballet exams, we had to cross the path of a marathon. I always remember we went past this one guy and he was singing to all the runners...
and when ever I am really feeling joyful, that little song pops into my head and that's what I was singing yesterday.
I was a hard day in someways but then it got awesome.
I was feeling really stressed. With the LNG being approved and fears that the Pipeline will be too I was feeling quite defeated. I have been working really hard on my blogs and painting and efforts to raise as much awareness as I can. When Christie Clark and Catherine Mckenna announced it was going ahead, it was like a punch in the stomach. I cried.
Anyways fast forward, I got to class and it's so wonderful because Justin brings food. I am very grateful for the fruit and muffins and coffee. It is really really wonderful and it really starts the day off right.
We spoke of Orange Shirt day and it's significance to remember the children who attended Residential Schools and how they were affected. We stood and held a minute of silence in remembrance.
Justin told us that next week is going to be hard. To prepare ourselves because we were going to be dealing with VERY difficult material, next week we deal with issues related to Missing and Murdered women. It is going to be very hard and I am nervous. I get teary thinking about it and it triggered me I must admit. But then he read a passage from Oh the Places you'll go. That made me happy. I love Dr.Suess. Such wise wise words. This is one of my favorite videos.
Shane Pointe was there and he opened with a lovely song and then we got into groups and had discussions about Cultural Appropriation and Cultural Appreciation.
I had done my readings and some research. They shared a great video with us. I need to find it and then I will share it but now I want to tell you about the afternoon and why it was AWESOME!
OH, first I should tell you we stopped for lunch and I was melting down. I was gifted though because I have made friends in this class and one of them stayed with me and listened to me and I felt so much better. THANK YOU FRIEND!! You know who you are!!
So after lunch Aaron started to show us how to sharpen our knives but before he did it Shane showed us some very very very special tools. He told this fabulous story about them but I can't do it justice so I will just show you them. They are truly amazing.
Here they are. Shane is not a tool maker, he is a carver. He told this really great funny story of how he wanted an axe and went to a dear family member to ask for one. Maybe I can get him to tell the story again...on video...I will ask...it was really good...I loved hearing it.
The great part about the story was it taught us about cultural appreciation and cultural appropriation and I will expand on that later but I want to show you what else made the day AWESOME.
So the image below is our first assignment. This isn't mine. I have to make something similar. I hope I can. I know I can. I have made the middle part already.
Okay, so that was my AWESOME day. It had sad and stressful moments and I was SUPER EXHAUSTED when I got home but I was SUPER HAPPY too!
I am really really excited about my future and what I can create.
Next week is going to be hard. Please send us love and light as we deal with this difficult subject but I am going to work hard this week to prepare myself.
Okay, so that's all for now. Have a great day and take care of yourself.
Aaron
Nelson-Moody, or “Splash”, lives and works in the Capilano Village on
the North Shore of Vancouver, British Columbia. These days he is working
mainly on jewelry engraving and repousse, and still carves the larger
houseposts and panels on commission.
While Aaron is his English
name, he also has his Squamish Nation name, Tawx’sin Yexwulla, which
translates as: Splashing Eagle, so most people know him simply as
“Splash”. He also carries the name, Poolxtun, from his adopted father Gerry Oleman, which he tanslates as, ‘the spreading ripples from a splash of water’.
He
has worked with community groups and students in a number of schools in
the Squamish and Vancouver areas since 1995, as well as sharing in
Japan and Scotland.
He has recently been
carving a housepost at the British Columbia Institute of Technology, and
worked on a repousse piece for the “Here and Now” exhibit at the Burke
Museum in Seattle. (link) Runs until July 27, 2015.
Some other highlights of his work has included:
•
several large works for Olympic Venue sites for the 2010 Olympics here
in Vancouver and Whistler, Canada, and 4 house boards for the
Squamish/Lil’wat Cultural Centre
• for the Torino Winter Olympics, he carved the entrance doors for Canada House pavilion, located in Torino, Italy.
•
10 years volunteer with the Uts’am:Witness arts and environment
project; has been on two Tribal Journeys canoe trips on the Squamish
Nation 50 foot carved cedar canoe, and one on Xwlacktun’s family canoe
the Pekultun; and previously worked at Kahtou Native Newspaper, and
Adbusters Magazine as a writer/photographer, http://splashingeagle.ca/page3/page3.html
